British parents were arrested on suspicion of child cruelty and neglect after their 11-year-old boy tipped the scales at 210 pounds (95 kilograms).

Police in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, decided to step in after doctors
sounded the alarm about the boy’s welfare following two visits to
the doctor earlier this year. They said intervention at this
level was "very rare," and was only initiated when other efforts
to protect the child’s welfare had proved unsuccessful.

The Sun reported that the boy, who stands at 5ft 1in, has a body
mass index (BMI) of 41.8. That is higher than what is classified
as obese for an average adult male and is “very overweight” for a
boy his age, according to Britain’s National Health Service.

The shape of the tyke was cause for concern for teachers and
doctors, leading to intervention by social services and
ultimately police.

The parents were arrested in March on suspicion of child neglect
and cruelty under section 1 of the Children's Act 1933. The
father, 49, and the mother, 44, were later released on bail, a
police spokeswoman said.

The family has since been reunited, and earlier this week, in a
letter of intent, the couple agreed to whip their son into shape.

“He’s always been big,” the father told The Sun. “He
was born with shovels for hands and spades for feet. Our son’s
favorite snack is steamed broccoli — and he’s still big."

John Hemming, chairman of Justice for Families, told RT that the
boy’s mother’s fears are most likely justified, as situations
like these are heavily weighted against families.

“Normally, one would assume that they’ve got no hope
whatsoever, because most of the time, that’s what happens when
you look at the statistics. So if there’s an application for a
care order, an interim care order, that goes through over 90
percent of the time.”

He chalks it up to British law, which has a habit of reacting
“punitively” when it comes to family issues, even if the
outcomes aren’t improved.

“It isn’t necessarily the case that you should never use the
criminal law for this, but I wonder, sometimes, if we’re too
quick to resort to it,” Hemmings said.

“There have been proposals, recently, for instance, to
penalize parents in Wales if their children are ill more than 15
percent of the time. All of this just gets more and more
punitive, and I don’t think it actually achieves much for the
children.”